Month: April 2005

Many of laborers involved in the process of renovating our building are actually denaturalized Kurds, that is, descendants of Kurdish citizens that have been stripped away of their Syrian citizenship as a result of the 1962 census and the manipulations that took place at that time. In other words, they belong to the very group of people whose basic rights my team and I at the Tharwa Projectare supposed to be busy defending, and are actually doing so, to the best of our restricted abilities.Continue reading “A Heretical Closure!”→

With its pullout from Lebanon nearing completion, the Syrian regime seems to be about to go into one of its usual self-congratulatory phases, a development that cannot but augur ill for the future. For some of the worst mistakes committed by this regime happened during such phases. Continue reading “Another Inauspicious Lull!”→

… What is going on now is a lot of testing of “red lines,” as everyone in Damascus seems to call them. People are saying things and publishing things. But many of them, like al-Bounni and Ammar Abdulhamid, who heads the minority-rights Tharwa Project, are engaged in a harrowing pas de deux with the government. Al-Bounni and Abdulhamid are both barred from leaving the country. Intelligence officials have interrogated Abdulhamid three times since January. Al-Bounni has seen his siblings and friends thrown in jail for peaceful political speech. No one testing the limits knows when the next crackdown might come or what will provoke it. Continue reading “Syria Squeezed: Are We Free Yet?”→

Why does the President still insist on reforming the Baath Party? A friend of mine asked me not too long ago. He does not seem to be too convinced of the Party ideology, he does seem to be quite aware of the endemic corruption among the rank-and-file on all levels, and he must surely be quite aware of anathematic the very term Baath is to American and international ears at this stage. So, why does he insist on reforming the Baath? Continue reading “Fig Leaf Burning!”→

Syrian-American Network for Aid and Development (SANAD)
The Syrian-American Network for Aid and Development (SANAD) is an independent organization launched in 2011 in Washington, D.C. dedicated to supporting the Syrian refugees, families and children, as they escape the conflict. The word SANAD ( ْسَنَد

Tharwa Foundation
Tharwa was established by Ammar Abdulhamid and Khawla Yusuf in Syria shortly after the events of September 11 to focus on inter-communal dialogue in Syria and beyond.

The Freedom Collection
Ammar’s video interview series on the George W. Bush Institute’s Freedom Collection Website

The United State has for long linked the recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians. President Trump’s recent decision on this matter reverses the policy and does so at a time when the government of PM Netanyahu continues to pursue expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territories and […]

Rather than help curtail the slaughter and pave the way for serious peace talks, limited strikes risk re-empowering Assad while undermining the credibility of President Trump.Strike Assad, Sanction Russia, Support Rebels and Hold Peace-Talks in Geneva!Despite the wag-the-dog appearance of President Trump’s about-face on Syria—that is, the possibility that hi […]

Few notes on the latest developments concerning Trump Administration's policy on SyriaSome serious strikes will take place against the Assad regime soon in order to signal that Trump is serious about Syria and that he is different from his predecessor and will respond differently when he is challenged. Trump needs to send a strong message in this regard […]

Our self-appointed Lord and Master holds his first cabinet meeting finally giving us all the chance and the blessing to praise him.Not to be outdone, our other more subtle self-appointed Lord and Master awarded the honor of interviewing him to the great American fabulist Oliver Stone. The results were fabulous.Meanwhile, an old Lord and Master wannabe is pre […]

“I can definitely say the President is not a liar”Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee SandersTaking a leaf from Mr. James Comey’s playbook, “considering the nature of the person” we are dealing with, meaning Trump, we should indeed expect and prepare for the worst.And the worst may unfold over a longer period of time than most American may want […]

Mystery Solved After days of extensive research we can now assert beyond the shed of any doubt that “Covfefe” is actually an Arabanglish word. Arabanglish is an emerging language spoken by the Arabic-speaking diaspora in English speaking countries. As an equivalent to Spanglish, it combines Arabic and English vocabulary and borrows from Arabic and English g […]

A DELIRICUM OF WISDOMIn the Gulf, Putin and his hackers createda certain opportunity for which the Saudis have been eagerly waiting and Trump more than willing to take the credit. Talk about collusion. Collusion aside, pundits keep showing the world how little they understand the region. For the real reason behind the recent crisis has little to do with Iran […]

A DELIRICUM OF WISDOMYes, what Kathy Griffin did was horrible, but it’s the “butt” of her joke that is clearly to blame. After all, the most powerful man in the world is far more capable of setting the tone of our public discourse than any comedienne. And he did not just set the bar too low, he shattered all relevant norms. In the process he undermined not o […]